Russia snatch two golds at Fencing Worlds

Italy's Valentina Vezzali fights with Russia's Larisa Korobeynikova during the final of the Women's Team Foil competition at the 2011 World Fencing Championships in Catania. (AFP Photo / Giuseppe Cacace) / AFP

Russia have added two more golds to their tally after winning the men’s team saber and women’s team foil at the Fencing World Championships in Catania, Italy.

­The Russian saber-fencers were dominant in the final against neighbors from Belarus. Nikolay Kovalev, Veniamin Reshetnikov, Aleksey Yakimenko and Pavel Bykov crushed their rivals with a 45-29 scoreline.

And it was a lot harder for the girls, who had to go against hosts Italy in the team foil finals.

The fate of gold was decided by a single point as a Russian squad of Inna Deriglazova, Aida Shanayeva, Larisa Korobeynikova and Evgeniya Lamonova collected a 46-45 win.

Korobeynikova’s victory in the duel against 13-time world champion Valentina Vezzali was vital to that success.

“I wanted to win so much,” Korobeynikova told Vesti.ru. “I said to myself: ‘Larisa, it’s possibly your only chance to become the world champion’. It’s not me who won, but our whole team. I’m happy to compete with such amazing fighters.”

Russia are second in the medals count (three golds and one bronze), with four events remaining till the end of the tournament.

Meanwhile, it is Italy who top the standings, with ten medals in the bag (four golds, three silver and three bronze).